Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference."We are cryptic and joyful and we would like you to dance," claim the enigmatic Fol Chen, likening themselves to the mysterious black monolith on the cover of Zep's Presence – a complete red herring as regards the group's musical approach, which favours synths and strings rather than rock and riffs.
One aspect they do share with the former rock gods is a careless attitude to personal responsibility, with the protagonist of "Cable TV" trying to lure the object of her affections to some dubious motel, while the singer of "You and Your Sister in Jericho" offers her temptations more bluntly: "Fuck your friends, they don't care/ Smoke too much, and dye your hair," she murmurs enticingly, while guitar, pedal steel and horns perform a slow, slurred waltz over an enervated drum-machine pulse, before it all dissolves into a blur of drums and thunderous distortion. It's impossible to pin the sextet down to a specific area of the musical map: one moment they create a kind of quirky electro-pop, as on the funky "No Wedding Cake", but elsewhere, disparate elements – lumbering, brusque drums; lap steel; prepared-piano; calliope-textured synth lines; various horns – are mingled in intriguing combinations that avoid definition.
Pick of the album:'No Wedding Cake', 'You and Your Sister in Jericho', 'Please John, You're Killing Me'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments